To think saying your kid learned swear words at school is a cop out?

Long story short: my sister was babysitting our nephew the other day. She said for an hour he was pretending he had a machine gun and was shooting at her and her children saying 'I'm gonna fucking kill you you motherfucking bastards'.

He's 5.

The parents and grandmother came in and didn't tell him off when we told them what he'd said, they said to ignore him when he says things like that.

Is that right, should we?

Then I heard them saying in the kitchen that he must've picked up those words from school, but do 5 year olds really talk that?

Yes, you are being unreasonable to think it's a cop out to say your kids learned swear words at school. Kids learn all sorts of stuff at school. Some parents do swear in front of their kids. Those kids go to school, swear, your kid hears it. Bam.. your kid now knows swear words. Why is it a cop out?

Why didnt you tell him off? No wonder he thinks it is ok to say if he never gets pulled up on it. It doesnt really matter where he learnt it, it matters that he ought to know a child shouldnt be using that sort of language.

that sounds like it came from a video game or a film kids dont speak like that they usually copy from what they see so he may have picked it up from school or he maybe allowed to watch play at 5 i would not ignore it and i would pull him up on it

you are being naive.. i have hear alot worse come out of 6/7 year olds..who your 5 year old will be mixing with.

and to a degree ignoring him can work. my 4 year old says the odd swear word, the more i told him off the more he said it. so the fiurst time he says it i tell him no, its not very nice to say and its only for adults. if he does it again i completely ignore him. walk out the room till he stops then i give loads of attention/..

Dc do learn swear words at school, it's the parents reaction that is the real test. DS told me to F off within a week of starting school, my friends DD who went to a private school took three weeks to tell her to F off. We joked how it took that bit longer and was worth the fees.

The older dc made a bee line for the new intake to teach them because they found it funny. He was told not to repeat it again and he didn't.

sadly, some parents allow their kids to watch totally unsuitable movies where they would pick up that language and repeat it at school. You don't need to tell your child off - but you do need to correct them and explain its not acceptable.

My kids picked up swearing from school so it is unreasonable to think they don't, my son is in reception and one of the boys has older brothers and they all swear, unfortunately the parents don't seem to care.

If my sons swear I tell them off and they go in time out, I will not tolerate swearing. If you ignore it how do they know its wrong?

The teachers said that it couldn't have been school because the children didn't talk like that but my friend who was a dinner lady there said oh yes they do. They just know not to let the teachers hear them but when it's just her on dinner duty - there are kids out there with a worse mouth on them than a merchant seaman.

All a parent can do is hammer home the message that there are not words that you want to hear.

My six year old told me at the weekend that he'd learnt "a really bad swear word being with 'c' at school" I was filled with some trepidation when I asked home which word it was...fortunately it was only "crap" - I of course told him it was a bad word and he shouldn't use it, but mightily relieved that that is his idea of a really bad word, rather than the 'c' word I was thinking of!

I agree with you mmelindor but unfortunately his mum and grandma don't agree. When we told them what he had said they didn't say anything to him, his grandma stroked his hair and told him it was alright because he was sitting with his head in his hands because he knew he'd done wrong

The fact that a 5yo uses unsuitable language does not mean that particular 5yo, or indeed any 5yo has been watching the films in which these phrases occur.

Quite likely somebody's 12yo has watched the film (or whatever), used the words in the hearing of his 10yo brother, who has taught them to his friend... words pass on through a chain of 10yos... one of teaches them to his 7yo brother, who then repeats it at school in the hearing of either this particular 5yo, or some other 5yo who repeats them....

I knew all sorts of weird things from television shows when I was little: we didn't have a television. My parents never used a swear words in their lives and I still knew them all before I left primary school. Dc have the usual knowledge of swear words, neither dh or I swear.